A local teacher has won a prestigious award given to new educators in the field. Abby Bentley, a science teacher at Pisgah High School, worked as a research scientist after her undergraduate studies at Western Carolina University.

Sometimes, it feels like we’re just nowhere in this life. It was like that for me in the early 1980s.

Bethel Middle School teacher Sally Hundley was named Haywood County Schools’ 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Katlin Roberts was making coronavirus contingency plans before most people in the United States had even really heard of COVID-19. By February, she’d grown concerned enough to walk into her principal’s office and ask what would happen if the disease spread to Cherokee. They’d take precautions, she was told, but certainly wouldn’t send students home. 

By Laurie Bass

Years from now, when we look back on the fiasco that is 2020, I wonder how we will feel about our foray into virtual learning and teaching. Will it be one of those experiences that time smiles upon, casting it in a friendlier light? Will we think about the extra time we got with our children and smile wistfully? Will we pat ourselves on the back for navigating uncharted territory with gumption and grit? Or, more realistically, will we shake our heads and praise the Lord on high that it was just a short season, and against all odds and despite many setbacks, we survived it and our children did too?